“What’s to me, always exciting when I go to the Career Center — certainly today was no exception — is to see the excitement from the young people when they tell you what they want to do,” DeWine said.
Many Ohio industries are struggling to find enough staff, in everything from healthcare to manufacturing and customer service. The Ohio legislature invested $300 million in the expansion of career tech education in its biennial budget, but many career centers, including in the Dayton area, are still experiencing waitlists.
“The trades are telling us this, the unions are telling us this, the companies are, and so seeing young people who within a year will be out actually doing it professionally....it really is fulfilling a need that we really have in the community and in society,” DeWine said.
As he visits Ohio career tech schools, DeWine said one of his goals is to see whether that number needs to be increased in the legislature’s next budget.
“That’s very much open, and we’ll figure that out,” he said.
The natural sciences program at the Greene County Career Center grows food in its greenhouse that goes to area food banks.
The government shutdown could see a pause on funding for SNAP food assistance, and WIC, which goes to pregnant and nursing mothers. The potential pause is something the state is “very concerned about,” DeWine said, adding that more information would be available about that in the “next several days.”
“If there’s no settlement, if there’s no budget, these will run out at the end of the month,” he said. “And so we’re taking a hard look at that.”
About the Author
